Phillies' Bryce Harper on Diamondbacks' Corbin Carroll: ‘I love the way he plays’

Phillies superstar Bryce Harper had nothing but good things to say when asked about Diamondbacks rookie Corbin Carroll on Monday afternoon prior to Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

“I love the way he plays,” Harper said. “He plays hard. He plays it fast, and I like that. But he is just a really good player. I mean, if he continues to be himself and just be Corbin, I think he is going to be really good.”

A little more than a decade ago, Harper was in a similar position to Carroll as a young star bursting onto the big league scene. Harper won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2012; Carroll is likely to win the award this year.

“He is a tremendous ballplayer,” Harper said. “Really good leadoff guy. Going to be a great leadoff hitter for a long time.”

—Nick Piecoro

Phillies stocked with late-inning weapons to attack Corbin Carroll

Unlike the other clubs the Diamondbacks have faced this postseason, the Phillies have formidable late-inning weapons that they can deploy to attack star Corbin Carroll, including multiple power lefties.

Carroll more than held his own against lefties this year, but his .283/.339/.382 line against them, compared to his .286/.369/.552 mark against righties, gives Phillies manager Rob Thomson a relatively easy decision to make if Carroll comes up in a key spot late in a game.

Left-hander Jose Alvarado is probably the best of the bunch. He logged a 1.74 ERA in 41 1/3 innings this season, holding lefties to a .217/.217/.304 line with no walks and 13 strikeouts in 47 plate appearances. He averages 98.7 mph with his sinker and 93.1 mph on his cutter, getting whiffs 44.5 percent of the time on the latter pitch.

Carroll has faced him only once, an at-bat that came in the 10th inning of a game on June 14. Alvarado got him to bounce out by throwing him five consecutive pitches that ranged between 100.3 mph and 100.9 mph.

Carroll was asked how he tries to prepare for pitchers he has rarely faced.

“I think you try to group those guys into buckets,” he said, “and take some experiences from at-bats off guys that you might feel are similar to him, any trends that you noticed or things that you worked or cues that worked for you, and try and take those and kind of apply them.”

Alvarado is far from the only power-armed reliever the Phillies will be running out late in games. They have five other relievers who averaged at least 95.8 mph with their fastballs, four of whom sat above 97.1 mph. Another lefty, Gregory Soto, sits at 98.3 mph.

—Nick Piecoro

Game 1 coverage: Diamondbacks-Phillies NLCS news, updates

Diamondbacks reshape postseason roster

In the Diamondbacks’ first two series of this postseason, they tilted their roster towards position players, including 14 hitters and just 12 pitchers. With fewer off days against the Phillies, they will shape up in a more typical way, using 13 hitters and 13 pitchers.

The change came with third baseman Jace Peterson being left off the roster in favor of right-hander Slade Cecconi. Cecconi, who had a 4.33 ERA across seven appearances (four starts) in August and September, provides length in the bullpen should things go awry. In the wild-card series, the Diamondbacks got that length from Bryce Jarvis, but that was only because Cecconi had been demoted too recently to be eligible.

Peterson was initially left off the roster for the wild-card series before he replaced Jake McCarthy, who suffered a grade 2 right lat strain taking batting practice. Not having Peterson available leaves the Diamondbacks with Evan Longoria and Emmanuel Rivera as their primary options at third base. Longoria has started all five postseason games thus far, but at age 38, starting a potential seven games in nine days could be a difficult ask of the veteran.

“It's going to probably be determined on how he feels and what he is giving me,” Lovullo said.

While Peterson would have provided a left-handed option, Lovullo chose the right-handed Rivera to back up the right-handed Longoria in part because of his superior defense.

—Theo Mackie

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NLCS provides homecoming for Walker, Gallen

Two of the Diamondbacks’ key players, Zac Gallen and Christian Walker, have close ties to the Philadelphia area. Gallen grew up across the river in the New Jersey suburbs, but cheered for the Cardinals as an admirer of Mark McGwire. Walker grew up as a Phillies fan in Norristown, a western suburb.

“The (2008) World Series moments, the last pitch,” Walker said, “I used to have it as the background on my phone through high school.”

In middle and high school, he admired Ryan Howard, the Phillies’ slugger who hit 58 home runs in 2006 to win the National League MVP.

“I remember seeing him hit balls out to left, go center field,” Walker said. “There were a couple multi-homer games where (he hit) one to left, one to right, one to center, stuff like that. I remember thinking maybe there's a different way to approach this power-hitting thing.”

Gallen’s lasting memories of Philadelphia sports are of the Eagles, but he did get his mom tickets to the World Series last year, when the Phillies lost to the Astros.

This go around, both Walker and Gallen are all business. Walker’s mom typically makes meatballs for the Diamondbacks when they’re in town but not this time. And Gallen said all family activity is on pause until Monday night, after his start in Game 1.

“I'm playing for free here with all the tickets compared to anywhere else,” Gallen jokes. “But yeah, it's about the NLCS. The external factors, I'll block them out as best I can.”

—Theo Mackie

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phillies' Bryce Harper on Corbin Carroll: ‘I love the way he plays’